Lewis-Clark State College is commemorating its 125th anniversary in 2018. This occasional feature highlights dates of interest in the school's history.
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March 28, 2015: Lewis-Clark State College lost one of its great professors on this day. William Laval died in a Sioux Falls, S.D., rest home at the age of 93.
Born on Jan. 22, 1922, Laval was from Seattle and attended the University of Washington, where he earned his bachelor's, master's and doctorate. During World War II, he served with the United States Geological Survey, identifying tin and tungsten deposits in Alaska on the Seward Peninsula. He also worked in Colorado with uranium deposits and in several other states on engineering geology projects.
Joining the Geological Society of America in 1953, Laval taught at Colorado State University and the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in the 1950s and early 1960s. Accompanied by his new wife Iva, he began a long career teaching at Lewis-Clark Normal School in 1963 as a professor of geology and natural sciences. He was among a handful of Lewis-Clark faculty who held terminal degrees in 1963. Laval retired in 1995.
Visitors to the Lewis-Clark State campus will see a basalt monument dedicated to Laval's many years of service to the college and the community located in front of Meriwether Lewis Hall. I know my academic career was immensely affected by his wisdom and keen wit. One of the greatest compliments I have ever received as an educator came from him, years after I was one of his students. He told me simply, "You have done well in your career."
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Steven Branting is a former Lewiston School District educator and author of several local history books.
